A dozen wines from Naked Wines arrived on the doorstep – here’s what I thought of the first six… Château Lagrave Cissan Listrac-Médoc 2005, Bordeaux, France (£12.99 www.nakedwines.com) Gentle, tender claret, with touches of gravel, tobacco and cedar to its blackcurranty fruit, and a refreshing finish. S- Ocaso Malbec 2007, […]
Cabernet Sauvignon
Snoqualmie Naked Merlot 2007, Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA (~£11.50 Stratfords Wines) Starts with a pleasant leafy edge, a touch of tobacco and reasonable plummy fruit, but then goes rather dilute, with clunky oak coming through. C Snoqualmie Naked Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA (~£11.50 Stratfords Wines) […]
Four Bordeaux-inspired reds from Chile & Washington State
The remaining trio from the clarets that had been hogging the wine rack… Château Preuillac Médoc 2004 (£14 Soho Wine Supply) Nose is a combination of ripe, even overripe fruit with a smoky edge that tends towards the fishy (think smoked mackerel). There’s quite nice ripe blackcurrant, plum and berry, […]
Whistlestop Bordeaux Part 2/2
Leaping Lizard Cabernet Merlot 2007, Western Australia (£7.99-£8.50 Seckford Agencies) Vibrant, crunchy blackcurrant nose, then slightly pippy blackberry flavours, with a tar-like streak, easy fleshy wine, quite powerful and ripe but finishes dry. B Ferngrove ‘Symbols’ Cabernet Merlot 2008, Frankland River, Australia (£8.99-£9.50 Seckford Agencies) Fresher and tangier than the […]
Aussie Cabernet, with a Chilean interloper
Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Valle Central, Chile (~£7) Classic Chile blackcurrant pastille tinged with mint, but also with a warm Mediterranean dusty herb edge, plus berry and vanilla flavours. B+ Wakefield Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Clare Valley, Australia (£8.49 Majestic – £6.49 until end of Jan 2010) Warm blackberry […]
Cabernet Sauvignons from Australia, Chile, France & Spain
We’ll get to Chile in a moment, but I’m kicking off with New Zealand. I first visited the Land of the Long White Cloud in 1995 (I know because I came back from the trip with a rather useful blue zip-up bag and a polo shirt, now covered in various […]